In essence, this means a leveling off of overall defense spending (see chart). Separately, the administration will request a further $130 billion in supplemental funds to pay for war operations in FY '10, along with $75.5 billion to pay the bills in Iraq and Afghanistan for the remainder of FY '09. Do the math, and you get a total Defense budget in FY '10 of about $664 billion (not including a few extras like the nuclear weapons complex, which falls under the Department of Energy).

We'll have to wait for the full request to see what big-ticket items the services may have to cut in order to bring their budgets in line with the president's request. The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation says the three juiciest targets are the Air Force's F-22 Raptor; the Navy's DDG-1000 destroyer program; and the Army's Future Combat Systems.

Interestingly, the budget also includes a "placeholder" estimate of $50 billion per year to pay for military operations in 2011 and beyond. But that, in Pentagon-speak, is what you call a "WAG." The budget outline states: "These estimates do not reflect any policy decisions about specific military or intelligence operations."

UPDATE: In a press conference to announce the new budget, Gates once again made it clear that major weapons systems are going to get schwacked, and soon. In an effort to "realize cost efficiencies," the Pentagon will "reassess all weapons programs – especially those with serious execution issues, and rebalance investments between current and future capabilities," he said.

*Q: ...Last month, you told the Congress that the spigot of defense spending that opened on 9/11 is closing. Does this budget represent the first closing of the spigot? *